Writer · Editor · Speaker

I Blew All My Creativity Into A Kleenex

Well, we’re sick. All of us. My husband had some kind of devil-infection that made him hack and splutter for about 72 hours straight, and Baby J, to absolutely no one’s surprise, seems to have caught it.

(Girlfriend is like germ Velcro. If a germ passes within a radius of one mile from her body, SHE WILL ABSORB IT.)

M and I have something that people usually refer to as “just a cold,” although that description seems a bit trite for something that is straight-up devouring my sinuses from the inside out. I’m going to start saying, “Oh, it’s just a flesh-eating virus,” because that feels more accurate.

Anyway.

Naturally (because if the Rileys are known for anything, it’s getting sick right when we really shouldn’t, like that one Mother’s Day when I started throwing up at the exact moment our entire family arrived for the lunch we were hosting), Rob and I are supposed to go to Nashville on Friday.

To a marriage conference getaway that we received as a Christmas gift.

For the entire weekend.

That we have been looking forward to for more than four months.

Basically, we need a Germ-Busting Miracle so that we can drop our kids off at our parents’ houses WITHOUT saying things like, “Now, when she has a coughing fit…” or, “Here’s her antibiotic; she needs it twice a day, and PS, she will try to TEAR YOUR ARMS OFF YOUR BODY when you give it to her.”

Because no one wants to say those things to one’s parents as one is leaving one’s kids with said parents.

I’ve been working a lot on my Creepy Faces book lately, and actually keeping up pretty well with my writing schedule (half a chapter per day), but today, I just lost my motivation. The rainy weather, my cold, my sick kids–it just sucked all the creative life out of me.

And it reminded me: We need to be gracious with ourselves.

The sticker system is awesome, and for me, it works. I don’t know why I’m so deeply motivated by stickers, but I am. Lots of you are, too. DON’T PRETEND YOU’RE ABOVE STICKERS.

But on days when you’ve slogged through all your tasks in an Aleve-D haze, and the kids are sick and therefore grumpy, and your husband has been trapped in the house, sick, for three days–

It’s okay to miss a sticker.

IT IS OKAY.

Because you know what I’ve learned? That sticker can be made up later. Sure, I’m a couple days behind right now. But I’ll get there. One way or another, Creepy Faces will be written, revised, and beta’d by November.

It may not go exactly according to the plan I’ve so neatly outlined in my planner, but I will get there anyway.